Erythritol, a sugar alcohol, is 60-80% as sweet as sucrose. Yet, it has a calorific value only about one tenths that of sucrose and does not contribute to dental caries. Also, unlike many sugar alcohols, it does not cause diarrhea. Further, erythritol possesses excellent processing properties: It is heat-stable; and it does not react with amino groups and therefore does not cause browning of organic substance.
Erythritol can be found in lichen, hemp leaves, mushrooms, fermentative foods (e.g., wine and soy sauce), and microorganisms. Among erythritol-producing microorganisms are yeast strains of the Pichia, Candida, Torulopsis, Trogonopsis, Moniliella, Aureobasidium, and Trichosporon genera.